N.K. Singh has been a formidable civil servant, an empathetic politician, a keen chronicler of India’s socio-economic history and the quintessential academic that academia never got. As chronicled in this book, his life's work has indeed been intertwined with the progress India has made. In many such cases, Singh has been not just an active contributor but has also given shape to those many momentous decisions—whether through the use of diplomacy or the rigours of understanding the mechanism of the levers of power or, for that matter, by consensus building.

Portraits of Power is not just an autobiography of a man, who for several decades, has played an active role in India’s march towards becoming a formidable economy; it is indeed, on multiple levels, a book that profiles myriad institutions that work in harmony to make things happen. And in everything that N.K. Singh has done so in this book, too; there is both incisive clarity and insightful anecdotal heft.

This book helps readers navigate India's vast complexities but in a stark yet elegant way.

From personal happenings to national movements, Portraits of Power covers it all.